Table of Contents

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Families of Newtown, New York, 1642-1790 (ICPSR 35005)

Principal Investigator(s):Kross, Jessica, University of South Carolina

Summary:

This dataset focuses on economic, social, and geographic mobility of town residents, and life events (marriage, birth and mortality). Church records supplemented with genealogies, wills, inventories, probate records, cemetery data, town books, court books, censuses, and tax lists were used to reconstitute families along the lines of previous French and English work (e.g. Fleury, M. and L. Henry, Nouveau manuel de dépouillement et d'exploitation de l'état civil ancient (1965) and Wrigle... (more info)

This dataset focuses on economic, social, and geographic mobility of town residents, and life events (marriage, birth and mortality). Church records supplemented with genealogies, wills, inventories, probate records, cemetery data, town books, court books, censuses, and tax lists were used to reconstitute families along the lines of previous French and English work (e.g. Fleury, M. and L. Henry, Nouveau manuel de dépouillement et d'exploitation de l'état civil ancient (1965) and Wrigley, E.A, "Family Reconstitution" in E.A. Wrigley, ed. An Introduction to English Historical Demography (1966). Family reconstitution is a method for studying demographic behavior in the absence of modern censuses and vital registration, providing for both observation of demographic events, as well as the population and time at risk. This dataset includes information about 202 couples and their 1094 children. The data on couples focus on demographic details for mothers and fathers, including birth, baptism, marriage and death dates, residence and religion. The data on children includes demographic information for the child, as well as marriage age and residence. Not all families have complete information.

a. An INDIVIDUAL table which consists of attributes belonging to a person (tb35005-0003.xls).

b. An INDIVIDUAL to INDIVIDUAL table which characterizes relationships between persons (tb35005-0004.xls).

The IDS formatted files are included to facilitate analyses of the longitudinal data contained within this collection. For a detailed overview of the IDS table composition, please see the ICPSR Intermediate Data Structure (IDS) Manual.

The ICPSR Codebook features variable descriptions and frequencies for Part 1: Families of Newtown: Parents Data and Part 2: Families of Newtown: Children Data. Parts 3 through 7 are Intermediate Data Structure (IDS) formatted tables and associated documentation, and are not represented in the Variable Description and Frequencies section of the ICPSR Codebook.

The PI's original family reconstitution records are held in the Long Island Division of the Queens Library, New York.

Methodology

Study Purpose:
Along the lines of family reconstitution undertaken by historical demographers Louis Henry (France) and E.A. Wrigley (England), the purpose of the Families of Newtown, New York was to reconstruct the population and demographic events of all families within this community during the Colonial era. The data are potentially useful for historical analyses of patterns of marriage, fertility and mortality.

Study Design:
The data are drawn from the records of the various churches in Newtown operating during the study period, supplemented with information from published genealogies, cemetery data, town books, court books, censuses, and tax lists. A total of 202 families are included; not all have complete data.

Sample:
An attempt was made to include the entire population of Newtown, without sampling. However, due to the incompleteness of extant records and potential under-enumeration on censuses, the entire population is most likely not included in the data.

Time Method:
Longitudinal: Cohort/ Event-based

Weight:
The data are not weighted.

Extent of Processing: ICPSR data undergo a confidentiality review and are altered when necessary to limit the risk of
disclosure. ICPSR also routinely creates ready-to-go data files along with setups in the major
statistical software formats as well as standard codebooks to accompany the data. In addition to
these procedures, ICPSR performed the following processing steps for this data collection: